Carlos Santana speaks about playing music from the streets of Tijuana to the stage at Woodstock, launching his career in San Francisco, and his hopes for a global society explored on his new album Africa Speaks. We’ll hear from the late Tito Puente, el Rey de los Timbales, who tells about the roots of tropical Latin jazz in Spanish Harlem and how he brought his instrument, the timbales, to the foreground by moving them from the back to the front of the stage. Steve Berlin and Cesar Rosas from Los Lobos talk about their mix of American pop and Mexican traditions, and we remember Celia Cruz, la Reina de Cuba, who we spoke to in 2001 about her musical beginnings in her beloved homeland, Cuba.

How do we capture the intangible power of music and memories? We'll first take a tour of the Lewis Family Museum and liquor store in Ferriday, Louisiana, where Jerry Lee Lewis' sister Frankie Jean shows us around their family home decorated with show posters, weapons, magazine clippings, religious icons and other memorabilia. Then we'll visit with the mayor of Ferriday and the people who turned memories into reality of club/hotel/bus depot/post office Haney's Big House that burned down in 1966. Across the river in Natchez, MS, blues drummer and harp player Hezekiah Early looks back on playing in Haney's house band. Back down in New Orleans, we'll talk with Treme Brass Band's leader and snare drummer Benny Jones and bass drummer Joe Lastie about their late drummer and friend Uncle Lionel Batiste who was memorably embalmed standing up in street parade finery.

How do we capture the intangible power of music and memories? We'll first take a tour of the Lewis Family Museum and liquor store in Ferriday, Louisiana, where Jerry Lee Lewis' sister Frankie Jean shows us around their family home decorated with show posters, weapons, magazine clippings, religious icons and other memorabilia. Then we'll visit with the mayor of Ferriday and the people who turned memories into reality of club/hotel/bus depot/post office Haney's Big House that burned down in 1966. Across the river in Natchez, MS, blues drummer and harp player Hezekiah Early looks back on playing in Haney's house band. Back down in New Orleans, we'll talk with Treme Brass Band's leader and snare drummer Benny Jones and bass drummer Joe Lastie about their late drummer and friend Uncle Lionel Batiste who was memorably embalmed standing up in street parade finery.

This week we start with a tour of the Lewis Family Museum and liquor store in Ferriday, LA, where Jerry Lee Lewis' sister Frankie Jean shows us around the home where they grew up. Then we visit with the mayor of Ferriday and the people of club/hotel/bus depot/post office Haney's Big House. Across the river in Natchez, MS, bluesman Hezekiah Early looks back on playing in Haney's house band. We end in New Orleans, where we talk with Treme Brass Band's leader and snare drummer Benny Jones and bass drummer Joe Lastie about their late drummer and friend Uncle Lionel Batiste.

This week on American Routes, we'll first take a tour of the Lewis Family Museum and liquor store in Ferriday, LA, where Jerry Lee Lewis' sister Frankie Jean shows us around their family home. Then we'll visit with the mayor of Ferriday and others who remember Haney's Big House, which burned down in 1966. Across the river in Natchez, MS, bluesman Hezekiah Early looks back on playing in Haney's house band. Back down in New Orleans, we'll talk with Treme Brass Band's leader and snare drummer Benny Jones and bass drummer Joe Lastie about their late drummer and friend Uncle Lionel Batiste.